LCC upgrading Chinsapo, Mtandile

Lilongwe City Council has embarked on a project to upgrade informal settlements of Chinsapo and Mtandile.

Speaking at a press briefing last week, project manager Aggrey Kaonga said the council is using money from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve the living conditions of the two areas.

“We completed feasibility studies in 2010 and now we are implementing different projects in the areas with the help of non-governmental organisations,” he said.

Kaonga said the council is erecting water tanks, building toilets, upgrading roads and building community centre halls in the areas.

He said residents who did not go to school are being encouraged to attend adult literacy classes.

In Mtandile, 43 people have formed a farming club called Tithokoze Circle which is accessing vegetable seeds, fertiliser and pesticides from the council.

The council is also erecting 10 water tanks in each of the two areas to ease water shortages.

The group’s secretary Enifa Kaphwiti said their lives have changed since they started growing the vegetables.

“We sell the vegetables and use the proceeds to buy basic food and other things,” she said.

Kaphwiti said women in the area wake up at dusk to look for water but with the tanks the problem will end.